Border gateway protocol (BGP) for routing policy distribution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11805046-B2
Application number	US-202117231849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2021
Priority date	Oct 19, 2018
Publication date	Oct 31, 2023
Grant date	Oct 31, 2023

Abstract

A method for extending Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to change multiple route attributes at a time. The method includes receiving a BGP wide community container that includes an indication that multiple route attributes can be changed at a time, a one or more route conditions, and actions to perform on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are met. The method determines whether the route conditions are satisfied. The method performs the actions specified in the BGP wide community container on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are satisfied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for extending Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to change multiple route attributes of a route at a time, the method comprising:
receiving a BGP wide community container, the BGP wide community container comprising:
an indication that multiple route attributes can be changed at a time,
one or more route conditions, and
actions to perform on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are met;

determining whether the one or more route conditions of the route are satisfied; and
performing the actions specified in the BGP wide community container on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication is a wide community type value that corresponds to a change attributes action.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more route conditions are specified in at least one of the following wide-community-Atoms: a BGP Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Session wide-community-Atom, a BGP Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Session wide-community-Atom, an IPv4 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom, an IPv6 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom, and an Autonomous System (AS) Path wide-community-Atom.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the actions to perform on the multiple route attributes are specified in at least one of the following wide-community-Atoms: a Communities wide-community-Atom, an Add AS-Path wide-community-Atom, a Change Multi-Exit Discriminator (MED) wide-community-Atom, and a Deny wide-community-Atom.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the BGP IPv4 Session wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Local IPv4 Address field, and Remote IPv4 Address field.

6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the BGP IPv6 Session wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Local IPv6 Address field, and Remote IPv6 Address field.

7. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the IPv4 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Flags field, and a number of triples consisting of <IPv4 Address field, MaskLen field, LeMaskLen field>.

8. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the IPv4 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Flags field, and a number of triples consisting of <MaskLen field, LeMaskLen field, IPv4 Prefix field>.

9. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the IPv6 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Flags field, and a number of triples consisting of <IPv6 Address field, MaskLen field, LeMaskLen field>.

10. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the IPv6 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Flags field, and a number of triples consisting of <MaskLen field, LeMaskLen field, IPv6 Prefix field>.

11. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the AS Path wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Flags field, and a sequence of AS numbers fields.

12. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the Communities wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, Flags field, and a list of Community Value fields that represent a list of actions.

13. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the Add AS-Path wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, an operation (OP) field, and a sequence of AS fields.

14. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the Change MED wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field, Length field, operation (OP) field, and a Value field.

15. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the Deny wide-community-Atom comprises a Type field and Length field.

16. A network node comprising:
a memory storing instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the network node to:
receive a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) wide community container, the BGP wide community container comprising:
an indication that multiple route attributes can be changed at a time,
one or more route conditions, and
actions to perform on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are met;

determine whether the route conditions are satisfied; and
perform the actions specified in the BGP wide community container on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are satisfied.

17. The network node of claim 16 , wherein the indication is a wide community type value that corresponds to a change attributes action.

18. The network node of claim 16 , wherein the one or more route conditions are specified in at least one of the following wide-community-Atoms: a BGP Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) Session wide-community-Atom, a BGP Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Session wide-community-Atom, an IPv4 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom, an IPv6 Prefix Range wide-community-Atom, and an autonomous system (AS) Path wide-community-Atom.

19. The network node of claim 16 , wherein the actions to perform on the multiple route attributes are specified in at least one of the following wide-community-Atoms: a Communities wide-community-Atom, an Add AS-Path wide-community-Atom, a Change Multi-Exit Discriminator (MED) wide-community-Atom, and a Deny wide-community-Atom.

20. A method for extending Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to change multiple route attributes, the method comprising:
providing, in a BGP wide community container, an indication that multiple route attributes can be changed at a time;
providing, in the BGP wide community container, one or more route conditions;
providing, in the BGP wide community container, actions to perform on the multiple route attributes when the one or more route conditions are satisfied; and
transmitting the BGP wide community container to a neighboring BGP router.

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chen Huaimo
• Li Zhenbin

Classifications

• H04L45/033

  by updating distance vector protocols · CPC title

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title

• H04L45/04 Primary

  Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing · CPC title

• H04L45/123

  Evaluation of link metrics (techniques for monitoring network metrics H04L43/08) · CPC title

• H04L45/24

  Multipath · CPC title